French minister in Iraq to oversee aid delivery

A ministry statement Sunday said Fabius was visiting Baghdad and Irbil, in the Kurdistan region, and meeting with representatives of Christians and Yazidis. The minorities are being persecuted by the Islamic State group — radical Islamists who are taking over strategic swaths of northern Iraq.

Fabius was also supervising distribution of humanitarian aid, the statement said.

On Saturday, President Francois Hollande spoke with Kurdish Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, assuring him that France “will stand by the civilian population, victims of continued exactions of the Islamic State.”

Hollande also spoke Saturday with President Barack Obama, saying France “will take its full place” among nations willing to help the Kurdish minorities in Iraq.

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